Orient Craft, a 30-year-old manufacturing and export house from India, has a history of supplying garments to brands like GAP, Tommy Hilfiger, Marks & Spencer and DKNY among others. The export house has recently launched Europe?s leading clothing brand s.Oliver in the country.

The story goes like this: One fine evening, the honchos of two companies, with a India retail foray in their wish-list, bumped into each other and clicked instantly. Three years later, having entered into a distribution agreement with s.Oliver, Orient Craft (it also supplies to s.Oliver) opened two s.Oliver outlets in Delhi and Mumbai in the first week of November.

And Orient Craft is not the only Indian exporter to have turned its focus towards the home turf.

Having supplied terry towels and bed linen to retail chains like Wal-Mart, Mervyns and Ikea, Kanpur-based Lakshmi Cotsyn has chalked out retail plans for India. The company plans to open outlets in Delhi, Chennai and some tier II cities along with having a denim and formal wear line-up.

For long, Indian textile manufacturers have been exporting apparels and other finished goods to the world over, taking pride in marquee brands that adorn their client list. However, it?s time to give wings to aspirations. Having served quietly at the back-end of the chain, many exporters and manufacturers are now gung-ho about leading from the front. And retail is the answer for many like Orient Craft and Lakshmi Cotsyn.

According to a CII-Ernst & Young Textile and Apparel report, the domestic apparel market is currently worth Rs 40,000 crore. The report estimates the domestic textile and apparel market to grow at a CAGR of 6.5%. The figures indicate that the country?s booming consumer market and the shift towards organised retail are fuelling the trend. Meanwhile, the appreciating rupee, which has hit the exporters acutely, is also somewhat responsible for the homeward focus.

Even big names of Indian apparel sector Arvind Mills, Madura Garments and Raymonds have tie-ups with many global brands and are continuously scouting for more partners. S Kumars, which has brands like Reid & Taylor, Belmonte, Escada, Dunhill under its portfolio is launching UK?s Stephen Brothers by November end. ?We have plans to launch 10-12 foreign brands in the next two years in the country,? informs Nitin S Kasliwal, vice-chairman and managing director of S Kumars.

While the biggies have been there, done that, the not-so-big and unexperienced are not shying from trying their hands at retailing. According to market estimates, 8-10 exporters are in talks with global brands. Another instance is of House of Pearls, a Gurgaon-based exporter, which has inked a joint venture deal with Lerros of

Europe. On the anvil are 10 retail stores in the national capital region.

Says Harminder Sahni, principle and associate director, KSA Technopak, ?These international brands have long relations with their suppliers and are comfortable working with them. Most of them don?t want to tie up with multibrand retailers, as they want to go solo. And big players like Arvind Mills already have many foreign brands in their portfolio.? He goes to say that all this leaves them with the option of foraying into India along with their suppliers who don?t understand retail or branding but understand apparel.

While for exporters it is a good way to hedge themselves against the appreciating rupee and move up the value chain at the same time, for the global brands it is an entry into the highly lucrative Indian consumer market. ?The best part is that it is not only Indian companies that are offering international brands to join hands, I know of many cases in which it is the other way round too,? says Pinaki Ranjanmishra, partner, Retail & Consumer Products Practice, Ernst & Young.

Most of these companies are looking at distribution agreements while some are also going for JVs. Says Sudhir Dhingra, CMD, Orient Craft, ?We have entered into a licensing agreement with s.Oliver (as taking clearances from the government is a long procedure).? Dhingra says that the initial investment of the project is between Rs 12-Rs 20 crore, which involves the whole start-up cost.

The rationale behind tying with global brands and not launching their own brands is that these names come with an established brand identity and therefore the retailer doesn?t have to build a brand from scratch, which is a more expensive and risky way.

And it?s the premium and the super premium segment, which is witnessing the maximum amount of action, as of now. But, is there space for so many brands? Analysts are of the view that since premium market is small, the growth figures are high, however, it will take 3-5 years for them to turn into profitable ventures.

?Right now, these brands are excited with the idea of India and want to just foray into the country. Therefore, they are taking the minimum risk route. However, with time, how the sector opens up will become clearer. And they may alter their strategies along the way,? says Narayanan Ramaswamy, executive director, KPMG.